Mrs. Alvarez sighed.
“She has a talent for making other people’s trouble look like an opportunity to be thanked.”
I hesitated before responding.
I did not want to turn a fundraiser into gossip.
Instead, I asked how long Mrs. Alvarez had known her.
“Long enough to remember when her children were little,” she said.
She glanced toward Lena.
“Alice was always the one who apologized when Evan broke something.”
The remark stayed with me all evening.
Alice’s confession did not erase her silence after the crash, but it suggested she had learned to carry responsibility for someone else’s actions long before she entered that truck.
At the end of the supper, Maya helped carry chairs to the storage room.
Lena asked me to walk beside her while Sofia wheeled her toward the exit.
“I know there’s an investigation,” Lena said.
“People keep hinting at things and stopping halfway.”
“The police are checking evidence,” I replied.
She nodded slowly.
“I don’t need someone to tell me every detail before it’s ready.”
She looked down at the brace around her leg.
“I just don’t want the man who hit me to decide what my story means.”
I promised I would not speak for her.
Outside, a cold wind tugged at the church banners.
Maya hugged Lena carefully, then helped Sofia load the wheelchair into the van.
On the drive home she asked whether Lena would ever run again.
I told her I did not know.
Some injuries heal quickly, and others leave permanent changes even when people work hard at recovery.
Maya watched the passing headlights.
“I wish everyone would stop deciding what she’s supposed to feel,” she said.
I thought of Gwen’s flowers, her hospital visit, and her polished public condolences.
“So do I,” I answered.
The envelope appeared on Monday afternoon beneath the windshield wiper of my car.
It contained a photograph of Maya entering Harborline Collision and a note telling me she would be accused of trespassing if she went there again.
There was no signature.
The photograph had been taken from across the street, near a bus shelter.
I called Maya to make sure she was at school, then took the envelope to the station.
Detective Brooks examined the print without touching its surface.
“This may be intended as intimidation,” she said.
“We need to establish who took it and when.”
I told her Kira had already warned us that someone from Gwen’s circle had asked about Maya.
